Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Lord, Is It Warfare? Week 3, Day 2

Thanks to all who have sent e-mails and other social
media messages that have encouraged me that this is helping. As always, I think that what John Wesley
wrote in one of his journals more than a hundred years ago about how that
spiritual growth and reading the Bible and devotional material were very
closely linked. Frequently I give great
consideration to the blessing that we have for being able to read especially when
the statistics note that the majority of the world’s population cannot read and
are illiterate. There is some benefit to
writing down lists in your journal of the simple things in life that you can be
thankful for. Such as being able to
read, clean water, antibiotics, a functioning city sewage system, a yard that
needs mowing, glasses, peanut butter, and a bag of jalapeno flavored kettle
chips. Thank God that you are able to
sit up and read a book late at night in a quiet den or living room on a sofa or
easy chair. Gratitude flows when you
start writing down your blessings! Paul
encouraged us that in everything we are to give thanks (1 Thess. 5:18).

Picking up with Week 3, Day 2 in Lord, Is It Warfare? by Kay Arthur, I again simply post up the
notes I wrote in my journal:

-Just because you have been brought up in a
church/spiritual/religious setting does not make you a Christian. There is the necessity of being born again
and being converted in your lifestyle and thinking. It is a personal matter and has nothing to do
with your religious pedigree.

-In fact, Paul equated his own spiritual pedigree as
SKUBALON (Php. 3:8). We must take great
caution not to get caught in the trap of wanting to inform people of our
spiritual accomplishments and positions.
Render it all SKUBALON as the great apostle did. Any pride we might take in what God has done
with our lives moves us toward a dangerous place.

-The born-again experience places us as citizens in a new
kingdom. It is imperative that we remember
that we have been placed by citizenship in a new world.

-The book then gives 1 Peter 5:6-11 and has a series of
questions.

1 Peter 5:6-11
KJV Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: [7] Casting all your care upon him; for he careth
for you. [8] Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour: [9] Whom resist stedfast in
the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. [10]
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory
by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect,
stablish, strengthen, settle you. [11]
To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

-Who is the enemy according to this passage?

·My adversary

·The devil

·A roaring lion

-What do these names say about him?

·He is an adversary that I am not to make
alliances or a truce with.

·He prowls—Works from the cover of darkness,
using distracting temptations, and fearful roars.

·He is loud, roaring, obnoxious, and does all he
can to stop the peace and calmness the Lord has placed in the heart of his
citizens.

-What were the people that Peter addressed in this
passage going through?

They were in great suffering. Don’t let suffering get you to doubt what is
going on in the Kingdom of God. We can
sometimes think that if we are suffering we are out of the will of God. . .
nothing could be further from the truth.
We often have a very romantic view about the book of Acts. It can be read through in about 45 minutes or
so and we have a tendency to air-brush it and think that there were only
revivals, crusades, advancements, and victories mixed in with miracles, signs,
and wonders. NOTHING could be further
from the truth! There were huge bouts of
suffering, pain, and duress that took place among God’s specially chosen
men. Some were martyred, beaten,
imprisoned, and so forth. God can use
pain and suffering in such an effort to get us weaned off of this world.

I have just received an e-mail from Mike Patterson, my
brother-in-law, who is a UPCI missionary in Romania. He noted that more people in Romania are
desiring to get to our US Embassy there so they can get into America. When quizzed, Romanians would rather go to
America than to Heaven. Sometimes that
is the battle that American pastors are faced with. We have so many creature comforts here that
it is hard to get a trip up of folk wanting to go to Heaven. Perhaps suffering and affliction could be a
key element in pulling us away from the world.

Let God use the setbacks, disappointments, defeats,
challenges, and pain to work in our behalf knowing that we are seeking a better
country. The one direction it is working
toward is for our own good. Suffering
has the unique ability to conform us even more into the image of Jesus
Christ.

-What are our instructions that Peter gives to us?

·Humble yourself

·Cast your care on the Lord

·Be sober

·Be vigilant

·Be alert

·Resist the devil

·Stand firm in your faith

·Understand that the source of suffering is being
endured by saints all over the globe

·Endure the suffering

·The Lord is using it perfect, confirm,
strengthen, and establish me. (NOTE: This tells me that everything the devil will
throw us is useful to do the will of God in my life. Remember what C. S. Lewis said, “The devil is
God’s devil!”)

-I leave you with a link to a sermon I preached several
years ago about the roaring lion called The Soul-eater.